Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Iran displays seized British navy boats

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran says it is planning on putting on display three British naval boats it seized last year, but Britain has denounced the move and says it will make a formal protest through diplomatic channels.

Iran’s state television said on Friday the boats would be displayed on the shores of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which divides southwestern Iran from Iraq, during Iran’s New Year holidays which begin on March 21.

"This is not a constructive way to resolve this dispute," a British Foreign Office spokesman said in London, adding that talks were continuing for the vessels to be returned.

"We are making a formal protest," he said.

The families of Iranians killed in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war often visit the worst-affected border regions during the New Year holidays to pay their respects to the dead.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the three British patrol boasts, which were being delivered to Iraqi police, in the Shatt al-Arab last June and arrested eight British servicemen aboard.